TACLOBAN CITY — Even as Tropical Storm ‘Ada’ loomed over Eastern Visayas, residents of two long-unlit sitios in Barangay Langit, Alangalang, Leyte, finally saw their long-held hope come true with the energization of their community under the government’s Sitio Electrification Program (SEP).
On Friday, January 16, officials and personnel of the Leyte III Electric Cooperative (Leyeco III) arrived in Sitio Ilawud and Sitio Kapudlusan to formally switch on the electrification project, bringing electricity to households that had relied on kerosene lamps for years.
Residents welcomed the development as life-changing. “This is a big help for pregnant mothers, children who are studying, the sick—this is a huge blessing for everyone,” said Dennis Suminig.
Suminig and his family have lived in the community since 2014 after relocating from Lanao in Mindanao to escape armed conflict. Since then, he had repeatedly sought assistance from barangay and municipal officials to push for the electrification of their sitio.
“Now, the light is no longer just along the road—it is already inside our homes,” he said.
The SEP is a national government initiative implemented through the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to achieve total rural electrification. The program provides subsidies for extending power lines and connecting households in remote and previously unserved sitios through partnerships with electric cooperatives.
Funding for the project comes from the national budget and covers the free or subsidized installation of power poles and distribution lines.
Leyeco III board president Isagani Artoza told residents that the arrival of electricity would bring lasting change to their lives, particularly to children’s education, as they would no longer have to rely on lamps for studying at night.
Before the Alangalang project, Leyeco III also energized 16 households in Sitio Manhuraw, Jaro town, as part of its continuing rural electrification efforts in Leyte.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
